Re: Hermione Granger the Mage
by Supersilver46
Summary: (Rewrite) Hermione Granger is your average mage, who wants nothing more to do than grind for a whole bunch of experience points. Of course, the world isn't so keen on letting her have her way, so it looks like it's up to her to force it to her will...
1. Chapter 1

"So why are you giving this to her for her birthday?" Hermione's father (whose name had been lost to the void) said as he rose his eyebrow, "You know she doesn't care much for video games."

"You mean you've never actually let her play a video game," Hermione's Uncle said, "Anyway look at her go, she's doing great!"

"Oh, it looks like I've died," Hermione said as she dropped the controller and looked at her mother, "Does this mean I'm done playing now?"

Hermione's father smirked as he watched the red plumber plummet to the bottom of the pit, "Man she's doing so well, isn't she?"

Hermione's uncle frowned, "Don't worry I still have a bunch of back up ideas," He said before he turned to Hermione, "Hey Hermione you like fictional books right?"

Hermione nodded.

"Do you like the ones with knights and dragons?"

"I think she's a little too old for those kinds of books," Hermione's mother said, "She's been reading War and Peace lately and-"

"Yeah that's nice, I don't really care," Hermione's uncle talked over Hermione's mother, "Anyway I got this game..."

Hermione and her mother groaned at the same time.

"...And I'm sure you'll like it, it's called Dragon Quest 4."

Hermione's uncle turned the system off, took the cartridge out of the game system, and placed the new game into the console.

Hermione's father wondered if he should've been concerned when the title music for the game began to play. He was then very concerned when Hermione began to play the game for more than an hour, which then stretched into two, which stretched into three...

Hermione's uncle smirked at Hermione's father, "So what was that about her not liking games?"

On July 30th, 1991, Minerva McGonagall knocked on the door of the home she was visiting for today, she'd gone through quite a bit of muggle homes and this last one was her final stop. The door opened up a crack and a man with disheveled hair opened the door.

"Yes, how can I help you?" the man said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Ah yes, I am a professor at Hogwarts, my name is Minerva McGonagall, I trust you got my letter?" McGonagall said.

The man nodded his head, "Yeah, uh about that could you maybe not send those letters, they make our daughter rather excited..."

"Well she should be excited," McGonagall said, "She's a witch after all!"

"Mage."

"Excuse me?" McGonagall rose an eyebrow.

"Hermione's been calling herself a mage, there's a difference apparently," The man said as he rested his head against the door, "Well since you're here, I guess you want to meet her?"

"Yes, that was the purpose of my visit..." McGonagall frowned as she noticed the man hadn't even reacted to the fact she had just called his daughter a witch, "You seem to be taking this...rather calmly."

"Oh, well we've known about magic for a while now," The man said in a matter of fact tone, "It wasn't that hard to get used to it."

The man ignored her shocked look and called out to his daughter, "Hey Hermione, there's a mage who wants to meet you!"

"Coming!" McGonagall heard a young girl's voice from inside the house, before she heard the sound of someone running down the stairs. Soon the young girl came into view, wearing a yellow dress, a silver belt, and a blue cape along with blue gloves and a pointy blue hat that rested on top of her head.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm meeting another mage!" The girl shouted, "Oh, what level are you at right now?"

"Level?" McGonagll asked.

"Yeah, your level, I've been stuck at 11 for a while now, but I bet you're at level 60 or something!"

"She's been grinding the worms out back for about a year," Hermione's father chimed in, "You wouldn't believe the mess that's in our backyard now."

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"So Professor McGonagall, what spells do you teach at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked as the two of them sat in the kitchen. Her father had trudged up the stairs to get some sleep, which left the two of them alone downstairs. "Do you teach how to shoot lightning? Or how to teleport? Or how to make explosions? Or-"

"One question at a time Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall said. "Though I will say that we can teach you to do at least apparate."

"What's an apparate?" Hermione asked.

"It's what you muggles call as 'Teleportation'" Professor McGonagall said.

"Oh that seems cool, but you seriously can shoot lightning or cause explosions?"

"We know how cause explosions, but you won't learn that until your fourth year, and as for lightning..." Professor McGonagall trailed off, "Well, we don't particularly like to use that spell, it brings back some bad memories..."

"Really, what kind of bad memories?" Hermione asked.

 _It brings back memories of a megalomaniac that tried to wipe out your race_ , is what Professor McGonagall thought, but she didn't want to stress the young girl to the point where she decided not to go to Hogwarts, so she decided to lie instead.

"It's a very complex spell that causes more harm than good," Professor McGonagall said, "So we prefer to stay away from spells that are too much of a danger to be properly used."

Hermione frowned, "Oh I see..."

The girl fell silent after that, and Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Well if you have no more questions, I will see you to-"

"Wait!" Hermione shouted as she interrupted Professor McGonagall, "I have a question, do you use wands or staves?"

Professor McGonagall rose an eyebrow, "We use wands," she said, "They help us concentrate our magic and-"

"Hold on a second Professor, I'll be right back!"

Professor McGonagall blinked in surprise as Hermione practically leapt out of her seat and charged up the stairs.

"Hey Dad!" Professor McGonagall heard Hermione shout, "Where'd you put my staff?!"

"It should be right next to that armlet of transmutation you found!" Professor McGonagall heard Hermione's father shout back. "If it isn't there it should be behind your bookshelf!"

"Okay, thanks Dad!"

 _What?_

"Oh I see that you're confused." Professor McGonagall heard a voice say behind her, and she turned to see that a woman holding groceries had unlocked the front door and had walked into the kitchen. "Don't worry I just gave up and accepted it after a while."

The woman then set the groceries down on the counter and turned to give Professor McGonagall a handshake, "I'm Hermione's mother, it's nice to meet you..."

"I'm Professor McGonagall," the professor said as she introduced herself, "I teach at Hogwarts, it's a school for witches and wizards."

"Oh I see." Hermione's mother seemed to be frozen on her face as she gripped Professor McGonagall's hand with a little more force than necessary, and pulled the old woman towards her, "Please help us!"

"W-what do you mean, are you in trouble?" Professor McGonagall said, "Is someone threatening you?"

"No it isn't that it's about Hermione-" Hermione's mother began to say, but she cut herself off as Hermione climbed back down the stairs, holding a large red staff with a red glass orb acting as the 'head' of the staff in her right hand, and a silver candle in her left.

"Oh hello mom," Hermione said as she looked curiously at her mother, "I thought you said you'd be gone for two hours, I really could've used your help during my grind session."

"Ah well you see..." Hermione's mother fidgeted on the spot, "I thought it would take me much longer to finish my work, but I'm here now so that has to make up for something, right?"

"...Well, whatever." Hermione said before she turned to Professor McGonagall, "Anyway this is what I wanted to show you."

Hermione then put the candle on the kitchen table, and pointed her staff at the candle. She closed her eyes, concentrated...and then fired a ball of fire from the tip of her wand at the candle, setting it on fire.

Professor McGonagall looked at Hermione, then the flaming candle that was quickly extinguished by the sprinklers on the roof, and then she looked at Hermione once again.

"Whoops, looks like I over did it a bit..." Hermione said as she rubbed the back of her neck.


	2. Chapter 2

"How did you do that?" Professor McGonagall immediately rounded Hermione "You cast Incendio without even using the incantation!"

"Oh so that's what it's called?" Hermione said, "I've always called it Frizz, I think that's a cooler name than something like, 'Incendio'"

"What, no that's not-" Professor McGonagall shook her head, "Nevermind, that spell you're using is something we teach the fifth years, I don't understand how a muggleborn could learn it so easily."

"Oh, she's been able to do that for a year now," Hermione's mother said, "It was surprising the first time she did it, but we got used to it."

"She's been able to do it for a year?" Professor McGonagall parroted as her mind raced, "When did she do it for the first time?"

"Well it was during our camping trip..."

.

 _"I don't think you're doing it right," Hermione's mother said as she and Hermione stood off to the side and watched Hermione's father try (and fail) to start a camp fire, "I don't think that you can even start a fire that way."_

 _"I know what I'm doing honey!" Hermione's father said as he continued to pile branches together and tried to set it on fire with a lighter, "I 'm pretty sure this is the way the way they do it in the movies!"_

 _"This isn't a movie though," Hermione's mother deadpanned, "This is real life."_

 _"You never know, maybe someone up there is reading our thoughts and words," Hermione's father cursed as the wind picked up and extinguished his lighter, "Sort of like reading a book-or fanfiction!"_

 _"Did you hit your head dad?" Hermione said. "You hit the ground pretty hard when you tripped on that rock..."_

 _"I'm fine sweetie!"_

 _"You know that you need old branches if you're going to start a fire," Hermione's mother said, "New ones aren't going to-"_

 _"I've got it!" Hermione's father shouted as he stood upright, "I just need to get oil, pour it on the branches, and then set it on fire!"_

 _"That sounds like a horrible idea."_

 _"Hold on, I'll be right back!" Hermione's father shouted as he dashed towards the RV that was parked near the campsite._

 _A cold draft drifted through the air, making Hermione shiver._

 _"You know, if I could cast a spell, it would make this go by a lot faster," Hermione said, "I think Frizz could definitely help us out."_

 _"Please don't bring up things from that game again," Hermione's mother said, "We brought you here to get away from the books and games."_

 _"Yeah but it would be so easy to light a fire if I could summon it..." Hermione said as a flame appeared in her hand, "And then throw it at that bundle of branches..."_

 _Hermione made a throwing motion and then the ball of flame that had appeared in her hand lazily flew through the air before landing in the bundle of branches, setting them on fire._

 _"..."_

 _"..."_

 _Hermione and her mother looked at each other, and then back at the roaring fire._

 _"Oh, you got the fire going already," Hermione's father said as he climbed out of the RV, holding a gallon of gas in his hands, "I suppose I don't need this then."_

 _"Di-did you just?" Hermione's mother looked at Hermione with wide eyes._

 _Hermione concentrated, and a ball of fire appeared in her hands, "N-no way..." Hermione said before she cheered, "I'm a mage! This is so cool right mom?!"_

 _Hermione's mother's eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she collapsed..._

 _.  
._  
"So basically, that's how she learned how to cast that spell," Hermione's mother said as she made two cups of coffee, "After that, she started doing more and more magic during the past few months."

"How did you learn to cast such a spell Ms. Granger?" Professor McGonagall said after a brief period of silence, "Did someone teach you?"

"Well in a way, I was taught how to cast Frizzle," Hermione said, "But it wasn't really a person who taught me."

"So how were you taught?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I was taught by a game I like to play." Hermione said.

"A...game?"

"Yeah, it's called Dragon Quest, here let me show you!"

Hermione quickly dashed into the living room, turned the TV on, and placed the cartridge into the NES before turning it on. Professor McGonagall walked into the living room and watched as Hermione began to explain the basics of the game to her.

"So there's a whole bunch of spells you can learn in the game," Hermione explained, "There's healing spells, buffing spells, elemental spells..."

Professor McGonagall tuned her out as she watched the girl play the game, her thoughts rapidly began to spin out of control.

"M-Ms. Granger, are the ones who made this game...muggles?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"What's a muggle?" Hermione asked.

"They're people who can't use magic," Professor McGonagall explained.

"Oh. Yeah I think they're muggles, why?"

So then that settled it then,Professor McGonagall thought to herself, Either these muggles somehow gained the knowledge of the spells the wizarding community used, or a wizard was purposefully leaking spells in order to make a profit.

"Ms. Granger, are the people who made this game from Britain?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"No, they live in Japan," Hermione said. "Why?"

...Perhaps it was more sinister than she had thought, maybe the Japanese were using this 'game' as a way to filter out muggleborns from the muggles. Perhaps they were using the 'game' as a training simulator, so that their school could claim their students were more advanced than the ones at Hogwarts, which would draw more people in, which meant that their approval rating would skyrocket. Or they were using in order to bolster their forces with people who could easily cast without using a wand, which would be catastrophic. She'd have to inform Dumbledore about this, the Japanese were making a potential power play, which would cause them to have a significant advantage over the other countries.

"Well then, it seems it is time for me to go," Professor McGonagall said, "It was a pleasure to meet such a talented young girl."

"Oh, you're leaving already?" Hermione asked, "But I didn't get to show you this really cool fight!"

"Perhaps you can show me another time," Professor McGonagall smiled, before she turned and left the Granger home and teleported to Hogwarts.

Professor McGonagall then quickly climbed the stairs to the Headmasters Office, and then threw the doors to the office open.

"Albus!" She shouted to the headmaster who was seated behind his desk.

"Oh hello Minerva," Dumbledore said, "Did you finish-"

"The Japanesse are using a 'video game' to create super soldiers!" Professor McGonagall interrupted him.

"...What?"


	3. Chapter 3

Harry Potter was having a pretty good day, all things considered. Of course there was the fact that he'd gotten lost at the station, but then he'd run into Ron Weasely and his family, and things had worked themselves out after that. Of course, there was that encounter with a blond git named Draco Malfoy, but he'd run off after Harry had told him that he knew who the 'wrong sort' were, and then nothing had happened after that. He and Ron were sitting and eating some of the sweets he had ordered, when suddenly the door to the compartment swung open and a girl dressed in odd clothing stepped into the room, dragging an awkward looking boy with sandy hair behind her.

"Hello there, my name is Hermione Granger, and this is Neville Longbottom," The girl who had introduced herself and her friend said, "We're on a very important quest, have either of you seen a toad?"

"Uh no, I haven't seen a toad," Harry said, as he looked over to Ron.

"I haven't seen one around here, maybe you should try somewhere else." Ron said as he stared at the girl, "What are you wearing anyway?"

"Isn't it obvious, I'm wearing my mage outfit," Hermione said as she rolled her eyes, "Seriously, haven't you seen a mage before?"

"A mage?" Harry asked, "You mean you're a wi-?"

"No, no, no I'm not a witch I'm a mage," Hermione said, "There's a difference you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, one's an evil hag that wants to steal your soul, and the other is a beautiful hero, like me."

"You certainly think highly of yourself." Ron said.

"Well that's mainly because I can actually back myself up," Hermione said in a matter of fact tone, "There are tons of other mages who can't even begin to do that."

"Oh I see..." Harry said as he mentally marked the girl down on the same list he had placed Draco, "Do you mind demonstrating for us?"

"No I don't mind," Hermione said, "Especially if a Hero such as yourself asks me to demonstrate."

"But I'll need a target first...how about that rat on your friends leg?"

"What?!" Ron shouted as he hugged his pet rat close to his chest, "I'm not going to let you practice on Scabbers!"

"Don't worry, he'll be fine as long as the spell works," Hermione said as she pulled out a red staff from...somewhere, "Now hold still, I'm not too great at aiming with this."

Orange energy formed on the tip of the girl's staff, and she pointed her staff at the rat before firing off a beam of energy that enveloped the rat. The rat then began to grow, as it suddenly transformed from a rat to a fully grown adult male that was sitting on Ron's lap.

"Uh..." The man said, "Squeak?"

"Huh well that's a bit unexpected," Hermione said as the man slid off of Ron's lap, "I wasn't expecting that your rat was actually a human in disguise..."

"Bloody Hell, I've even slept with him from time to time!" Ron shouted as he backed away from the man.

"Well look on the bright side," The man said as he stood up and gave Ron a big smile, "At least we kept each other warm!"

Ron shivered in disgust.

"Anyway, now that my cover's been blown..." The man picked up the wand that Ron had dropped on his seat, "I suppose I'll have to kill all of you."

"K-Kill us?!" Neville stuttered as his face became pale, "W-we're just kids!"

"Yeah well I guess it sucks to be you then," The man continued, "But if I kill you all, I'm pretty sure the dark lord will give me a promotion or something."

"You shouldn't kill people for a promotion!"

"Wait Neville," Hermione interrupted, "Do you know what this whole situation is?"

Neville turned to look at her in confusion, "Um, isn't it a hostage situation?"

"It's more than that though," Hermione said as her eyes began to gleam in wonder, "It's the cutscene leading up to a boss fight!"

"What?"

"Listen here um, what's your name?"

"It's Peter Pettigrew, but my friends call me Wormtail." Peter Pettigrew said.

"I think I'll just call you Wormtail then," Hermione said, "That just seems more of a fitting name for a boss."

"Actually couldn't you just call me Peter? I'd really appreciate it if-"

"Anyway Wormtail, your day of reckoning is here!" Hermione shouted in a dramatic fashion, "We'll make sure to beat you up, and make sure that law enforcement gets you!"

"Heh." Wormtail laughed, "Just try it little girl, I've got more experience than you, nothing you do could phase me!"

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"What's with all the shouting?" Percy Weasley asked himself as he walked down the hall towards a specific room. He'd gotten complaints about the people in the room making a loud racket that was disturbing them, so Percy, being the utterly noble guy that he was, decided to volunteer himself to see what was happening. He definitely wasn't doing it to get some 'points' as his younger twin brothers so eloquently stated. No, it was just that as a perfect it was his duty to make sure that order and sanity was kept in the Gryffindor house, and he'd be damned if he'd let his youngest brother get away with whatever it was he was doing.

Percy was about to knock on the door, when it was suddenly blown off of its hinges, and a fat man was thrown against the wall before falling unconscious

"What the?" Percy muttered as he looked into the room to see that it was a complete and utter mess, the windows had been blown out at some point, there were scorch marks all over the wall, and bizarrely sheets of ice were scattered on the ground.

"Oh hey Percy!" Ron yelled, "Did you know that Scabbers was actually a fat man in disguise?"

Percy's eye twitched as he looked on the man who was dressed in rags on the ground, and then back to Ron.

"Yeah, I had that same look on my face too," Ron said, "Especially when I realized he's probably slept with most of us."


	4. Chapter 4

Kingsley Shacklebolt sighed as he watched a group of Aurors wheel a semi-comatose Peter Pettigrew out of the train and off to headquarters to get interrogated. After all it was odd that a 'dead' man would suddenly turn up alive and well as a 'rat' for more than ten years. This of course meant that the number of legal issues they'd have to jump through with Pettigrew would mean that there'd be mountains of paperwork and complaints waiting for him once he got back to the office. Not to mention that Pettigrew's survival changed everything about what they knew about the night Harry Potter's parents were killed, and the events that had happened after that.

Kingsley stepped into the train and headed towards a specific room, and greeted one of the Auror's who were standing guard near the door. Kingsley nodded to the guard before he walked into the room and was immediately hit with a cool breeze that drafted from out the window. On one of the seats, a young girl was idly swinging her legs back and forth before she turned to look at him.

Kingsley pulled out a folder containing a case report, which was based off the testimonies the four other witnesses had given. The oldest of the four was rather...excited to tell them his testimony, and there were many things that he had to mark out that was irrelevant to the case at hand.

"So let me get this straight," Kingsley Shacklebot said to the young girl who was currently seated in front of him as he read off of the case report, "Instead of getting help, you decided to engage a dangerous wizard in combat."

"Furthermore, you also decided to hit him with variety of spells which included Bombarda, Incendio, and Immobolus," Kingsley continued but then the girl who was sitting in front of him rose her hand into the air.

"Actually, can I interrupt?" Hermione asked, "The spells I used were Bang, Frizz, and Crack respectively, I just find those names a lot cooler than what you called them."

Kingsley sighed and decided to trudge on regardless, "After which, you ended up blowing him up, sending him through the door." He then closed the folder that held the case report and looked at the girl seriously, "Do you have any idea how much danger you could have been in?"

"Of course I did," Hermione countered, "In a boss battle there's about a 50% chance you're going to critted, and have to start over."

"What does 'Critted' even mean?" Kingsley asked.

"It means getting critical hit, but I wouldn't really worry about that," Hermione said, "I have a pretty decent luck stat, though it need a little bit of work."

"Well I agree that you were rather lucky," Kingsley said, "Peter Pettigrew is a member of the former Death Eaters, if he wanted to he could've cast a killing spell at you."

"Oh a killing spell, so you mean Whack right?" Hermione asked.

"What is- nevermind, don't answer that," Kingsley said as Hermione opened her mouth to explain, "I just want to make it very clear to you that you put the lives of yourself and your friends in jeopardy."

"I could handle it just fine though," Hermione said, "It wasn't even that hard to take him out, it was really easy actually."

Kingsley sighed, "Look just don't do anything dangerous like that, there are people more experienced than you who can handle this kind of stuff."

"Yeah, but those 'experienced' people weren't really on the train," Hermione said, "Were they?"

"..." Kingsley stayed silent as the door behind him opened, and an Auror poked their head in.

"Um sir, are you done questioning the witness?" they said. Kingsley nodded, and the Auror motioned for Hermione to follow him out of the room...

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Hermione watched as Harry Potter was eventually called up for the sorting, and it took a while for the hat to decide where Harry should go, before it eventually shouted,

"Gryffindor!"

As Harry walked towards the table Hermione smiled and tried to greet him in a semi-normal fashion.

"Hello Harry," Hermione said to Harry as he walked over to the Gryffindor table, "How are you doing?"

"Um, fine." Harry said as he gave Hermione an odd look, "Why are you asking?"

"Oh I was just worried about you, it's not everyday you find the person who indirectly lead to your parents death," Hermione said, "I'd figured you might to angst and-"

"And this conversation is over." Harry said before he moved to across the table to sit by...someone who wasn't insane.

"Oh, well then I guess we'll talk later then!" Hermione called out to him, and sighed as he ignored her. Now what was she supposed to do? She'd wanted to talk to him and see what kind of spells he'd learn, but it didn't look like she'd really get the chance to do that now. Luckily though, she knew someone else she could talk to, and so she moved to sit next to Neville who had been talking about his family to some of the other Gryffindors.

"Hey there," Hermione said as she sat down, "Did you find your toad?"

Neville nodded, "Yes, one of the Aurors found him for me."

Hermione internally sighed, she'd wanted to gain the exp from that quest...

"Oh, speaking of the Aurors," Hermione said, "Did they interview you on the train too?"

Neville opened his mouth to say something, but then the Headmaster cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you." Dumbledore said, "First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors." Dumbeldore continued, "Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."

Some of the older students seemed to be confused by that last statement, and the professors seated next to Dumbledore looked rather odd as well. On the one hand, it seemed a perfectly safe thing to do to listen to the Headmaster's warnings and avoid the places he had mentioned, on the other hand though...

"Hey Neville," Hermione whispered, "Do you want to check out what's on the third-floor corridor?"

Neville's eyes widened and he whispered back to her, "We can't do that, the Headmaster just told us it's out of bounds!"

"Aren't you curious though?" Hermione asked, "What do you think he could be hiding up there?"

"I don't think that-"

"Oh, maybe it's a treasure chest full of gold, or an actual armlet of transmutation, or maybe it's a weapon!"

"Hermione I don't think it's a good idea to go up there," Neville tried to reason with her, " the Headmaster said to avoid unless you want to die a horrible death!"

"That's probably because there's a lot of high level monsters up there," Hermione said, "Maybe I should go grind in the forest first, then head up to the third floor corridor."

"It should probably work out if I grind for about an hour or two for about a week..."

"Are you even listening to me?" Neville asked. "Hermione?"

"Huh?" Hermione looked over at Neville, "Oh sorry, I was trying to work out my schedule."

"Hermione, if you go and do what you just said I-I'll tell on you, and then you'll be expelled." Neville said. "This isn't a game you know, I've heard rumors about the Forbidden Forest-"

"Oh, so that's what it's called? It sounds really ominous for a first dungeon." Hermione interrupted Neville. Neville ignored her and decided to continue on,

"And I've heard that it's full of beasts that can easily slice you in half, or poison you, or-"

"Okay I think I get it Neville," Hermione said as she placed her hand on Neville's shoulder, "I won't go to the forest to grind, and I won't go up to the third floor corridor."

"Really?" Neville said, "You promise you won't do anything that'll get you killed?"

"I promise." Hermione said, 'I promise I won't tell you I'm going there anyway', Hermione thought to herself. Eventually, the entire hall was united in song before they were sent to their respective dorms. A perfect (whose name she couldn't remember) led them up a complex series of stairs until the came upon a talking painting that asked for the password. The perfect told the painting the password, and the girls were led up to the female dorm, while the boys were led up to the male dorm. Hermione waited until everyone was asleep before she crept out of her bed and down the stairs, before she headed out of the common room.

.

It took her a while to even get outside of the castle, let alone find her way outside. She'd ended up going down stairs that ended up leading to another winding hallway, which meant that she had to backtrack to the stairs to find another way forward. In a way, it was just like a dungeon, with winding halls that'd take you to a dead end or a path to treasure. Unfortunately for her...

"What's that Ms. Norris, you say that someone's out there?"

More often than not she nearly ran into Filch, which made it really difficult to progress. She quickly hid in a shadowy corner of the hallway as Filch made his way downstairs. Hermione pressed herself further back against the wall she was leaning on and held her breath as Filch and his cat, Ms. Norris slowly began to move further down the hall. She sighed in relief before clasping her hand over her mouth as Filch suddenly stopped walking.

"...must have been the wind." Filch said before he and his cat rounded a corner, Hermione quickly climbed back up the stairs, and walked around a bit more before she came across a door that lead outside. Hermione gently pushed the door open as she slipped outside, and finally managed to make her way to the forest.

It looked foreboding, given the trees that seemed to practically reach up into the sky, and the pitch-black darkness of the night made the forest seem outright sinister. Luckily though, she wasn't going to spend too much time in the forest, she'd only be there for about an hour.

"Besides, I'm level 11, I'm sure I can handle a simple forest." Hermione said to herself as she walked into the forest. She didn't notice the shadowy figure that left Hogwarts and that followed her at a distance...

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.

"Well now I'm lost." Hermione plainly stated as she found herself in the same spot she had been in thirty minutes ago. "I didn't really think the forest would be this big..."

She'd been walking around the forest for more than an hour, and she could feel herself slowly begin to tire out. A part of her felt as though she should've taken Neville's warnings a bit more seriously, but she quickly squashed that part of her. Sure, she was lost, had no idea how to get back to Hogwarts, and was miserable and tired, but she couldn't just stop now. After all she was a mage, and an adventurer, if it was possible for the characters of the game to go hours without resting, then surely, she could do the same? She felt a rush of energy fill her as she saw a bright green light suddenly flash in the forest, which meant that someone/something was out there, if it was a monster she could probably kill it and gain experience points, if it was a person she'd be able to find her way back to Hogwarts in no time.

So, with a destination set in her mind, she began to walk towards the light, which had begun to shine even brighter for some reason. She idly brushed off a spider that fell from a tree branch onto her shoulder and set it on fire with a well-aimed Frizz. There were a lot of annoying spiders that seemed to practically infest the forest, and they seemed to enjoy falling on her hair or her shoulders and try to bite her. She usually swept them off her shoulders before they ever managed to do that though, and there was a trail of burnt spider ashes that lead all the way back to the spot she'd been in previously. She'd gotten some minuscule experience from the spiders, but she didn't get enough to level up at all. So, she was hoping that if the thing that was making the light was a monster, she'd be able to reach the next level relatively easily.

Eventually, she made her way into a large clearing where someone dressed in a cloak was standing over something that was lying on the ground. Hermione wanted to call out to the figure, but for some reason something stopped her from speaking. There was a sense of wrongness that washed over her entire body as she watched the figure bend down towards the ground and did...something. Hermione took a few steps forward to see what the figure was doing, and at that exact moment the moonlight filtered through the tree branches, giving her a perfect view as to what the man was doing. On the ground was what looked like a white horse, which had a long horn jutting out of its forehead, signifying that it was a unicorn. Beneath the unicorn, a pool of silver liquid surrounded the unicorn's body, ripples formed in the liquid as the figure bent down and began to drink from the blood.

Hermione paled and took a step back, as she realized exactly what the sense of wrongness she had felt before was. It looked like the figure had killed the unicorn and had decided to drink its blood for some strange reason. As she turned to leave she accidentally stepped on a dead branch, breaking the twig in two. The figure immediately heard the sound, and poked its head up, and their eyes met for a brief moment before Hermione decided to run as fast as she could from the figure. Heavy footsteps began to thunder after her, and she turned her head to see that the figure was chasing her. She quickly pulled out her staff and turned around to shoot a sheet of ice at the figure's feet, causing them to trip and fall.

She then felt a hand roughly yank her back by her cape, and she stumbled before falling backwards onto the ground. The figure hovered over her, breathing heavily as they pointed a wand at her forehead.

"You shouldn't have been here," the figure rasped, "You have no one but yourself to blame for this outcome that you find yourself in."

Hermione quickly cast a Frizz spell, which struck the figure in the face, which caused the figure to stumble as they cursed in anger. Hermione pushed herself up to her feet and dodged to the side as the figure blindly lunged at her and scrambled to her feet as she cast Bang to send him flying through the air until he crashed into a tree, and then fell down towards the ground.

'What are you doing you imbecile?!' She heard a voice hiss, 'She's just a young girl, how are you being so pathetic?!'

"I apologize master," The figure said as it pushed itself to its feet, "I'll end this now."

A breeze suddenly picked up, blowing the figure's hood off of their head, revealing their face. Hermione recognized the man, he was one of the-

"Avada Kedavra!"

A green bolt of energy flew from the professor's wand and struck Hermione in the chest. She blinked and looked back at the professor who was looking at her in surprise.

"How are you still standing?!"

"Maybe you miscast the spell?" Hermione wondered.

"How could I have possibly miscast it?!" The professor shouted as he pointed his wand at Hermione, "Avada Kedavra!"

Once again, the spell simply washed over her body. The professor curled his lips and continued to fire the spell over and over again.

"Hey, I think I know what the problem is," Hermione said, "You're using the base death spell, but that only has a 50% chance of working."

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

"Avada Kedavra!"

"No matter how many times you try to kill me, it isn't going to work!" Hermione shouted as the professor continued to fling the spell at her.

She sighed, "This boss's AI is pretty weak, it could at least try to cast a different spell..."

She pulled out her staff and pointed at the crazed professor, "Oh well, I'm not one to pass on free experience."


End file.
